About the Author

While usually the Author is a blithering idiot he does have some redeeming qualities.

The Markerting Blurbs read as follows: (and you can see more hype on my Linked IN Page )

Personal Profile:

  • 30 years ( where the hell did it go? ) experience as a NASA contractor with various NASA science missions.
  • 195 refereed publications (all published in the Journal Of Incremental Knowledge)
  • Supervised 22 PHD students since 1990
  • Author of Graduate Level Textbook: Modern Cosmological Observations and Problems (1998)
  • Author of Undergraduate Textbook: Cosmology: Mankind's Grand Investigation (1999)
  • Have taught 93 University of Oregon classes in 58 assigned terms of teaching involving 19 different course titles
  • Approximately 25 popular articles in newspapers/magazines/professional blogs
  • Over 4 million dollars in combined grants from NSF and NASA since 1986
  • Inaugural Member of ISI Highly Cited Researcher in the Area of Space Science
  • Phi Beta Kappa Visiting Scholar 2001-2002
  • Chair of first National workshop on Advanced Computing and Alternative Energy (September 2007)
  • Early adopter of Instructional Technology (beginning in 1993) -produced a full suite of interactive simulations and java applets (http://jersey.uoregon.edu); designed and implemented one of the first wireless laptop classrooms in Higher Ed (2001)
  • Launched perhaps the first Science Education Outreach Website - the Electronic Universe, on Feb 7, 1994 (http://zebu.uoregon.edu)
  • Have taught 177 (yes that is correct) ON line classes since Spring term 1996
  • Active in K12 science teacher professional development over the last 20 years
  • Supervise Pine Mountain Observatory outreach and classroom visitation programs
  • Have given over 100 public lectures at various venues
  • Exercised leadership in the development of the Environmental Studies and Environmental Sciences programs at the University of Oregon
  • Extensively involved with the Reinvention Center in the effort to reform Undergraduate Education
  • NASA Space Grant Representative for University of Oregon


Research Profile:

During the period 1980-2000 G. Bothun published 160 articles in the peer-reviewed literature. This record of productivity and the subsequent citation of these papers lead to Bothun being inducted as an inaugural member (in 2002) of the ISI Highly cited researcher in Space Sciences which recognizes the top 0.5% of all cited international scholars in the field of Space Sciences. During this same time period, Bothun produced 15 Ph.D students in observational astrophysics. In addition, Bothun wrote a graduate level textbook (Modern Cosmological Observations and Problems) which sold out its first printing and, also predicted that the Cosmological Constant must be part of the real cosmology at work, approximately 1 year before there was credible observational evidence in favor of it.

During this period of performance, Bothun was involved in many collaborations that resulted in many breakthrough moments in Extragalactic (the study of objects outside of our Galaxy) Astronomy. These moments include:

  • The recognition of an entirely new class of galaxies called Low Surface Brightness galaxies.
  • A high quality characterization of the large scale density field (e.g. large scale structure) and subsequent measures of the matter density of the Universe.
  • An integrated method of determining the distance scale of the Universe and its overall geometry
  • A thorough characterization of the properties of Galaxies that host Quasars that lead to a much better physical understanding of these phenomena.
  • Assembling a very large, multiwavelength database of the properties of galaxies in clusters of galaxies to better characterize the role that environment plays in determining galaxy evolution.
  • Opening up new wavelength windows in which to observe various types of galaxies by consistently being on the forefront of new instrumentation.

Overall Bothun's work is characterized by innovative observations using then state of the art equipment convolved with a high ability to analyze large and complex data sets using clever statistical techniques. In recent years, he has taken that skill set and applied it to new research areas involving the characterization of climate change as well as the characterization of various forms of alternative energy production as scalable solutions to the coming world energy/electricity production problem